FBI entraps activists

Brad Crowder attended the Republican National Convention in 2008 with the plan of protesting the GOP, but he never thought his actions would land him in prison.

An informant working for the US government got him to agree to turn his demonstration of civil-disobedience to the next level, and although Crowder never followed through, he was sentenced to years in prison.

“It’s not a clear case of black and white,” Crowder told RT. He says that he’s made mistakes and taken responsibility for them, “but also there is a certain role the government and the informant played” in setting him up. “If you’re looking for a case study in a really complex and nuance situation, I think people that look at this will walk away asking a lot of really hard questions that need to be answered.”

What Crowder wants people to look at is “Better This World,” a new documentary that looks into the incident that put him behind bars and labeled him as a domestic terrorist.

According to Crowder though, many terrorists are artificial ones. “If people want to stop terrorism they should stop producing it,” he told RT. By placing informants in communities only to entice others to act out in instances of revolt, Crowder said you are left with a sticky situation.

Crowder said the government needs to “stop creating the conditions that give rise to people lashing out in drastic ways” and “stop making it an intrinsic part of international policy.” He suggested that that is the best way to thwart terrorism.

Speaking to RT today, Crowder acknowledged that’s he made a bad choice. “I made a mistake,” he said, “but I think it was more complicated.”

Complications, indeed. For acting on an informants urging, Crowder ended up in 21 months in prison. Over a year of that, he told RT, was spent without sun or fresh air. His cohort in the alleged crime, David, is serving a four year sentence still today.